kelly



J. F. KELLY.

BOILER CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 13. 1919.

433,727 Patented M311, 1922..

L I ll w g F 22' 22 /o Patented @ei, ail, lean JOHN F. KELLY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AHi5)IGFJI IDIt, 'BY MKSNE JhSSIGNllEENTS, T0

KELLY VALVE COMPANY, OLE MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN, A CQBPORATION OF MICH- IGAN.

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Application filed March 13. 191.3. Serial No. 282,521.

To all 10 7mm it may concern Be it known that 1, JOHN F. KELLY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicage, in the county of Cook and Fdtate of Illinois, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in a Boiler Controller, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to boiler controllers adapted for use either'upon single high pressure boilers or upon a battery of boilers.

One of the primary objects of this inven tion is to provide an apparatus adapted to be installed in the steam supply line from a boiler which will automatically shut oh" the supply of steam upon priming of the boiler so as to thereby prevent water from being carried over into the steam line. v

Another obj ect of the invention is to provide a means for preventing back flow of steam from the main steam line to which a battery of boilers is connected, back into any one of the boilers in which, as the result of a rupture or for other reasons the steam pressure has fallen below the pressure in the main steam line.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which when the boiler is shut off from the main steam line, either as the result of priming of the boiler or as the result of decreased pressure therein, will automatically actuate a signaling device which will direct the engineers attention to the particular boiler which is in trouble.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art by reference to the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing, on which; Fig. l is a fragmentary plan view of two boilers of a battery equipped with my invention; and i Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of one of the controllers.

From an inspection of the drawing it will be observed that the apparatus comprises primarily a casing consisting of a lower por tion 3 providing'a chamber i and an upper portion 5 providing a passage 6 through which steam is delivered to the main steam supply line 2. Each casing is adapted to be mounted above its boiler 10 and is connected with the boiler 10 at one or both sides through a pipe or pipes 7 which communicate at their lowerends with the top of the boiler and their upper ends with the interior of the chamber 4:, as shown. The discharge end 8 off the passage 6 is connected with the main steam supply line which carties the steam to its point of use, and if a battery of boilers is employed each boiler is equipped with a controller and each controller is connected with the main steam suplever 14: pivoted at 15 within the casing and the opposite end of this lever is connected by link 16 with a lever 17 fulcrumed at '18, as

shown. A float 19 is mounted upon the long arm oi the lever 17 and the connection between this arm and the link 16 includes a slot 21 providing a lost motion connection at this point.

Upon priming of the boiler the water i which overflows in the chamber 4 through the pipe or pipes 7 will, if the quantity overflowing be small, drain out through the drain pipe 22 to a steam trap (not shown). If,

however, the water comes over in appreciable quantities: it will accumulate in the chamber l, thereby causing the float 19 to rise and its rising movement will through the link and lever connection, previously described, cause the valve 11 to close against its seat 9, thereby shutting off the tlow of steam from the boiler to the steam line.

"Whenthe valve 11 is closed water as well as the steam will be prevented from entering the steam supply line and the valve will remain closed until the accumulated water has drained off through the pipe 22am] drain line 22 to a trap (not shown), whereupon downward movement of the float 19 under gravity will lift the valve from its seat, permitting the steam to be again supplied to the main line.

The valve llis also adapted to act as a check valve, so that when a battery of boilers is being used if the pressure in the boiler to which the controller is connected falls for any reasonbelow the steam pressure in the main line the steam, in its reverse flow, acting upon the upper face of the valve 11 will force it against its seat. in order to prevent an unduly rapid closing of the valve due to a wide variation in pressure between the boiler and the main steam line, I have provided a piston 23 mounted upon the upper end oi a stem 24 carried by the valve 11 and adapted to operate in a chamber 25. The steam pressure upon the lower face of this piston will prevent closing movement of the valve 11 until the pressure above the 7 into the stem 12, where it communic ates with the steam passage through radially disposed apertures 28. It will be manifest, therefore, that the piston 23 serves to balance or control the movements of the :valve 11, both when the controller. is employed on a battery of boilers and on a single boiler. It willv be understood of course that when the valve is closed by reverse steam flow its closing movement will lift the float 19 and. when the accumulated pressure beneath the valve becomes sufficiently great this pressure, augmented by the pressure of the weight of the float 1.9, will cause the valveto open again.

In order that the valve may be utilized as a shut-off valve which can be manually closed whenever occasion requires. I have provided a threaded stem 29 equipped with a handswheel .31 so that the stem may be screwed inwardly by reason of its threaded engagement with a yoke 32 to force the valve against its seat and retain it in closed position as long as may be desired. b

For the purpose of signaling the engineer whenever priming of the boiler occurs or whenever the valve 11 is closed for any reason, I haveprovided a signal in theform of a steam'whistle 33 mounted .upon an extension 34 or" the casing 3. A hollow plug 35 is provided with a valve seat at its lower end and with radial aperturesBG through which steam may pass into the pipe 37 leading ,to the whistle and-beneath this plug there is disposed a sliding valve member 38 which,

when in "its upper position shown in the drawings, closes the passage through the plug 35 so that no steam can escape to the whistle. When the valve member 38 is depressed steamwill flow from the: casing 3 through the passage 39 formed in the valve member and will pass through the plug 35 to the whistle. It will be observed that the passage 39 communicates with the chambers exteriorly of the plugs through radial openings 41 and 42 formed in the valve member.

a For the purpose of actuating this valve member to admit steam to the whistle I have provided a lever 43 passing through a slot in the lower end of the valve member 38 and fulcrumed at one end to the casing extension, as indicated by reference character 44, and connected at its other end by a link 45 to the short arm of the lever.17. It will be evident that upon upward movement of the float 19 the lever 43 will be actuated to depress the valve member 38, thereby permitting a flow of steam to the whistle which will give an audible signal to the'engineer.

The slotted connection 21 between the lever 17 and the link 16 permits the signal to be given before the valve 11 is closed upon priming of the boiler. This provision is made in order that the engineer may know when the boiler is primmg only slightly but not sufiiciently to cause a closing of the valve 11. WVhen his attention'has been called to the fact that the boiler is not operating properly he may investigate the conditions and, if desirable, close the valve 11 manually. If, however, excessive priming occurs the. valve will'be automatically closed and the whistle will continue to signal. A hand valve 46 is preferably provided by which the whistle maybe shut off when desirable and a drain plug 47 is also provided to drain the upper portion of the casing whenever necessary;

It is believed that from the foregoing, my invention, its mode of operation and many of its inherent advantages willbe understood without further description, but it should be obvious that the details of construction illustrated and described are cap- .able of considerable modification and vadation without departing from the spirit of the invention asset forth in the following,

l ims- What I claim asnew and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In a boiler controller, the-combination of a casing adapted to be disposed in the steam supply pipe from a boiler, a shut oflf valve arranged in said casing to be automatically closed upon reverse flow of steam through the casing, a signalling device, and means in said casing operabl by..;vvater in said casing for closing said valve and actuating said signal. i i 1 2. In a boiler controller, the combination of a casing adapted tobe .disposedinthe steam supply pipe from a boiler, a valve arranged in the path of normal flow of steam through said casing and adapted to automatically close upon reverse flow of steam through said casing, and means for closing said valve when the water level in the ca s, ing reaches a predetermined height. h

In a boiler-controller, the combination of a casing, acheck valve mounted therein and adapted to close upon reverse flow of steam through said casing, a float, connec-. tions between said float and said valve whereby said valve is closed upom an accumulation of liquid in said casing, and

manually operable means for closing said 5. In a boiler controller, the combination of a casing, a check valve therein adapted to automatically close upon reverse flow of steam through said casing, means for retarding the closing movement ofsaid valve, means for manually closing said valve,

a float, means whereby upward movement of the float will close said valve, a signalling device, and means actuated by upward movement of said float to operate said device.

JOHN F. KELLY. 

